Remote Opening of Brokerage and Crypto Accounts in Türkiye: What Changed on September 3, 2026
The Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (SPK) has introduced a new procedure for the remote identification of foreign clients. The regulation was published in the Official Gazette on September 3, 2026 (No. 33359) and entered into force on the same day. This is the first comprehensive analysis of the regulatory amendment in Russian.
Who Is Affected
The rule applies to three types of institutions: brokerage firms (aracı kurumlar), portfolio management companies, and crypto-asset service providers. While the scope is narrow in terms of the number of regulated entities, it is broad in terms of clients: the rule covers any foreign national seeking to open an investment or crypto account in Türkiye without traveling to the country in person.
How Identification Works Now
The key innovation: a non-resident individual can verify their identity remotely using a biometric passport equipped with an embedded NFC chip that complies with the ICAO 9303 standard (the standard modern international passport in most countries). The system reads data from the chip via NFC and cross-references it with the data on the passport's printed page. If, for any reason, the chip cannot be read, remote identification cannot proceed, and opening an account remotely is not permitted.
Address verification is required separately. Acceptable documents include: a certificate of residence, an electricity, water, or gas utility bill issued in the client's name no more than three months prior, a document issued by a public authority, or data from the client's country's public databases. Until this verification is completed, the account remains restricted: conducting fund transfers, moving crypto assets, or executing securities transactions is not permitted.
The regulator has also introduced a risk-based assessment: the client's technical parameters (IP address, device, geolocation, browser data) are analyzed alongside passport details. If the system detects suspicious patterns, the remote identification process is terminated.
A separate Article 9/A sets forth the procedure for legal entities: detailing how the company's identity and its representative's authority are verified during remote account opening, including for companies registered in the Turkish trade registry.
What This Means in Practice
Prior to this regulation, a foreign non-resident effectively had no official route to open a brokerage or crypto account with a Turkish institution without an in-person visit to the country. This route is now available, but it is not a single-step procedure: it requires a passport meeting the specified technical standard, an NFC-capable device, and a full set of address verification documents; otherwise, the account will remain frozen for any movement of funds.
It is worth noting that a client identified remotely falls into a category requiring enhanced compliance scrutiny. While this does not block account operations, it entails closer transaction monitoring, which is standard practice for remote customer relationships in the financial and crypto sectors.
Who Benefits
Investors and entrepreneurs seeking to maintain part of their assets in the Turkish jurisdiction, but who are not ready or able to visit in person. Those already structuring operations with Turkish and Kazakhstani components who wish to add a brokerage or crypto account in Türkiye for diversification purposes. And those who previously faced refusals from Turkish institutions to open accounts for non-residents without an in-person visit—now a formal regulatory pathway exists, rather than relying solely on the internal policy of an individual broker.
If you are considering opening an investment or crypto account in Türkiye without visiting the country, we can assist in selecting an institution prepared to operate under the new framework and guide you through the identification process from start to account opening.